Diagnostics

Introduction

A diagnostic procedure is an examination to identify an individual's specific areas of weakness and strength in order determine a condition, disease or illness. Chances are, anytime you’ve gone to the doctor’s office presenting symptoms of an illness or injury, your healthcare provider has requested that you undergo diagnostic testing of some sort. Medical diagnostic tests encompass a wide variety of physical examinations—both invasive and non-invasive—given by medical professionals to confirm the presence or absence of illness/disease in patients. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of diagnostic testing and the most common medical tests ordered by doctors.

Why Is Diagnostic Testing Important?

Accurate and efficient diagnostic procedures are crucial for doctors to create effective treatment plans that allow patients to recover as quickly as possible with the least amount of complications. There are currently 113 essential diagnostic tests, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), that doctors hope will help improve diagnostic—and consequently, treatment—outcomes.

For many of us, going to the doctor is usually a sign that something abnormal is happening in our bodies, oftentimes waiting until the symptoms are unbearable. Although you may think that practice is fine for something as seemingly innocuous as the common cold or a sprained ankle, not every illness will clear up on its own, and those that don’t have the potential to be fatal if not treated promptly.

What is Diagnostic Testing Used For?

Diagnostic testing, as mentioned above, is generally used to discover the underlying issue that brought a patient to the doctor in the first place. Diagnosis, however, is not the exclusive function of diagnostic testing. Though there are an overwhelming number of medical examinations used to diagnose an even more overwhelming number of ailments, they can, for the most part, be classified as fulfilling the following five roles:

• Confirmation/Exclusion
• Triage
• Monitoring
• Prognosis
• Screening

Growth of Diagnostic service market

India diagnostic labs market stood at USD12319.32 million in FY2021 and is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 12.25% during the forecast period. This can be ascribed to the growing population in the country, which is susceptible to various diseases, especially the geriatric population. Additionally, growing healthcare awareness among the population related to early disease diagnosis and treatment is expected to fuel the market growth over the next few years. Besides, various diagnostic chains and hospitals have started offering special discounts and packages for getting different kinds of diagnostics test done. These offers increase on occasions such as women’s day, AIDS day, breast cancer awareness week, among others. This in turn is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market growth. Furthermore, the emergence of corporates and multi-national companies in the country who are collaborating with various hospitals and diagnostic labs in order to get the health check-ups done for their employees is further expected to boost the market growth in the next few years. Also, India is emerging out as a medical tourism hub and a lot of medical tourists are visiting the country for getting their treatment done on account of availability of cost effective and better treatment options. This in turn is expected to positively influence the market growth through FY2027.

India diagnostic labs market is segmented into provider type, test type, sector, end user, regional distribution, and company. Based on sector, the market can be bifurcated into urban and rural.

The urban sector dominated the market in FY2021 with a share of around 73.99% and will continue maintaining its dominance in the coming years also. This can be attributed to the presence of well-equipped diagnostic labs in the urban areas. Also, the diagnostic chains are expanding in the urban areas. Besides, high disposable income of population in the urban areas coupled with higher healthcare awareness is expected to support the market growth over the next few years. Besides, it has been observed that certain laboratories present in rural areas are just collecting the samples or doing the routine tests only and sending the samples to the laboratories in nearby district or city laboratories for testing and diagnosis purposes, thereby supporting the growth of urban sector segment.

The major players operating in the India diagnostic labs market are Dr. Lal PathLabs Limited, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd., SRL Diagnostics Pvt Ltd., Thyrocare Technologies Limited, Vijay Diagnostics Centre Pvt. Ltd., Max Healthcare Institute Limited, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., Quest Diagnostics India Pvt Ltd, Lucid Medical Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, Suburban Diagnostics India Pvt Ltd., Oncquest Laboratories Ltd., Span Diagnostics Ltd., Medinova Diagnostic Services Ltd., Dr Lalchandani Labs Ltd., Choksi Laboratories Ltd., Suraksha Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd., Medall Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Lotus Diagnostic Centre, Lifecare Diagnostic & Research Centre Pvt Ltd, 360 Diagnostic & Health Services Pvt. Ltd. and others. Major companies are developing advanced technologies and launching new services to stay competitive in the market. Other competitive strategies include mergers & acquisitions, launching of new offers or services, among others. For instance, Dr. Lal Path Labs Limited has launched a gift card known as LPL gift card through which certain discount can be availed on the tests opted.

The Indian diagnostics industry has been rapidly evolving over the years. It has emerged to be a key component of the healthcare segment owing to the increased reliance of medical experts and professionals on the diagnostics segment to validate, accurately diagnose the ailments, and provide the required treatment protocols along with the shift in consumer psyche and preference that are now extra cautious about their health and well-being.

Growth and market size of diagnostics in India

The industry has indeed witnessed a huge transition. People have become extremely conscious about their well-being and hence get themselves tested regularly to keep a tab on their vital stats and maintain their health quotient. This is also the reason why the diagnostics market, specifically home testing has picked up and is growing significantly.

India diagnostic labs market stood at USD12319. 32 million in FY2021 and is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 12.25% during the forecast period. This can be ascribed to the growing population in the country, which is susceptible to various diseases, especially the geriatric population.

Keeping pace with the online consultations via telehealth and telemedicine services, the labs have brought about diagnostics services at the doorstep of the consumers with the help of technological innovations and have upscale the healthcare segment on the whole. In the present fast-paced lives, laboratories both by organised and unorganised players have offerings of home testing and ensure the provision of instant results and hence are increasingly preferred by the consumers.

The most important aspect that diagnostic businesses look at is customer-centricity. Services like at-home testing that drives fast and accurate reporting of infectious diseases, molecular testing, etc, have created a huge impact on businesses in a positive way. Adoption of such technologies and home sample collection is now becoming the need of the hour to have a competitive edge in the market. This rising trend has further boosted the growth and demand for diagnostics services in India.

Challenges faced by the diagnostics market in India:

The industry has been facing roadblocks in the form of water availability, lack of skilled talent and tech infrastructure along with connectivity issues, which are required for the labs to improve their services and expand their presence.

Additionally, entering tier-2 and tier 3 cities and remote areas is still a major hurdle for the diagnostics business. It is the local players that are present in these areas and provide basic testing. However, we need to partner with these local standalone players and bring about consolidation. These geographies are indeed fruitful as they come with low investment costs and a high volume of sample testing sales but have to suffer majorly due to the demand-supply gap.

Furthermore, the segment also faces pricing pressure issues. There is huge competition amongst the organised and unorganised chains concerning the volume of sample sales and pricing of tests. Also, the inculcation of technological advancements to survive in the market comes with additional financial investment and maintenance costs. This comes as a road bump for the players considering the present economic turmoil due to the coronavirus and especially for the local and small businesses that possess just sufficient funds to continue their operations.

What is indeed surprising that one does not need to be involved in the hassles of procuring a license from NABL or registering yourself as a medical facility if you wish to set up a lab. This is the reason why the diagnostics segment has expanded as many local players who have the requisite funding have also entered this business since there are no entry barriers. They have been performing well and have been giving neck-to-neck competition to the branded diagnostic labs since consumers' demands have exponentially risen.

But at the same time, the profitability of their businesses is still a questionable aspect. It is this lack of entry barriers coupled with no set regulations for ensuring and maintaining the quality standards that have risen to be a few of the reasons due to which consolidating and strengthening the market has been tough.

The present and the future of the diagnostics market

As per IBEF, India has stepped in to be one of the leading hubs for high-end diagnostics services with the assistance of huge capital investment and thus has been catering to a large segment of the population. As per IBEF and the Ministry of External Affairs reports, the Indian healthcare industry is projected to reach the $372 billion mark by 2022 and the diagnostic market alone is anticipated to grow to $32 billion by the end of 2022. This growth will be largely driven by the increase in healthcare spending by the aging population, rise in income levels, and increased awareness for preventive testing along with high-end diagnostics offerings and the government's prompt health-related measures. The report also shares that just like the metros, tier-2 and tier-3 cities are also witnessing the surge in diagnostic centres. While they may not come with adequate licensing but are backed with recognised health centres headquartered in the urban areas and are offering timely and good quality testing facilities. For rapid success in this diagnostic laboratories market, investing in Tier II and Tier III cities of India is a great way of expanding the network. By collaborating with more health institutes and increasing collection centres in India, diagnostics can increase their reach and have better access to the masses.

Employment scope in diagnostics:

The diagnostic market is indeed the profitable business and offers the plethora of growth opportunities. The journey will be challenging but the outcome will be fruitful as the sector will flourish in the upcoming time, so the chances for employment scope for diagnostics is high in the upcoming years.

References

• https://www.oakbendmedcenter.org/2020/10/13/what-are-medical-diagnostic-tests-and-how-do-they-work/
• https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/08/16/2281146/0/en/India-Diagnostic-Labs-Market-By-Provider-Type-By-Test-Type-By-Sector-By-End-User-By-Region-Competition-Forecast-Opportunities-FY2027.html
• https://www.cnbctv18.com/healthcare/indias-diagnostics-industry-opportunity-or-challenge-9694131.htm
• https://www.edelweiss.in/ewwebimages/WebFiles/Research/a8b96f38-8192-4fc1-8bf8-de1b28d900f2.pdf